Decision Day For Controversial Burniston Gas Rig Plans

North Yorkshire Council's strategic planning committee will meet on Friday to decide on controversial plans for a new gas drilling rig in Burniston near Scarborough.

Councillors are set to decide the fate of a highly controversial planning application for a new gas drilling rig in Burniston, near Scarborough, this Friday.

Members of North Yorkshire Council’s strategic planning committee will gather at Scarborough Town Hall at 1pm on April 24 to review the proposal by Europa Oil and Gas.

A report prepared by council planning officers, has recommended that the scheme be approved subject to conditions. The plans involve the construction of a temporary wellsite and the operation of a 38-metre drilling rig for the appraisal of subsurface hydrocarbons on land east of the Mill Yard.

The application includes the use of a lower volume hydraulic fracturing technique known as a 'proppant squeeze'. The council report explains that this involves pumping a mix of gelled fluids and proppant, such as sand or ceramic particles, down the wellbore at high pressure to create channels in the rock, allowing gas to flow at enhanced rates.

The proposal has faced fierce opposition, gathering more than 1,400 objections from local residents. Campaigners argue that the technique highlights a loophole in the current government moratorium on fracking, which only covers high-volume extraction.

The decision was originally scheduled for January but was postponed after requests for the government to intervene. However, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government confirmed it was content for the local planning authority to determine the application.

Professor Chris Garforth of Frack Free Coastal Communities expressed his frustration over the process.

Professor Garforth said:

"In the end, it has come back to the local planning authority, which feels to us not as local as it used to be.

There are 15 members of North Yorkshire Council on the strategic planning committee. They all had an opportunity to come to visit the site back in January. Only three of them were able to or took the opportunity to visit.

So we've got a group of councillors sitting around a table in Scarborough Town Hall, most of whom haven't got a clue what the site looks like. All they've got is what the application says about the site and what the planners say about the site, which is basically copied from what the applicant says about the site."

Professor Garforth questioned the approach taken by the council's planning officers in their recommendation report.

"They're in a very difficult position, but we elect them to take difficult decisions. Now, the, the planners have looked at the proposals, the planning officers. The planning officers have, in our view, not followed the national guidelines properly and they have certainly not followed the policies within their own North Yorkshire Minerals and Waste Joint Plan. And we've been pointing this out to them for some months. And if the report that the planners put to the committee still ignores those key provisions of the minerals and waste plan, we feel that council members, committee members have got every right to vote against any recommendation to approve."

The proposed development is unanimously opposed by the Reform-led Scarborough Town Council, local parish councils, and the local Member of Parliament.

Ahead of the meeting, Professor Garforth issued a direct plea to the committee members who will cast the deciding votes.

Professor Garforth said:

"The message to the planning committee, the elected members on the planning committee, is listen to what local people are saying, have the confidence, have the courage to vote against this application because everyone locally is opposed to it.

There are lots of people nationally who see it's a really bad idea. All the local parish councils and Scarborough Town Council have looked at it carefully and said this is, this should be opposed.

So the message now is to our elected members of North Yorkshire Council, the 15 of them who sit on the planning committee, to say, no, this should not happen."

The report being presented to councillors today recommends that the plan be approved stating:

"The application is recommended for approval as it is considered on balance that there are no material planning considerations that warrant its refusal, and there would be no unacceptable adverse environmental impacts resulting from the proposed
development.

Furthermore, it is considered that the proposed development is of a temporary nature of up to three years, and whilst leading to a change to the landscape during this period, it would not result in any unacceptable impacts on local amenity, the character of the surrounding area and landscape, the local highway network, ecology or the water environment or lead to an unacceptable impact on air quality or climate change.

The proposed landscaping, restoration and aftercare of the site is deemed appropriate.

For these reasons it is considered that the principle of the development in this location is acceptable."

The full report is available at https://edemocracy.northyorks.gov.uk/documents/s67844/NY20250030ENV_Burniston_Committee%20Report_24%20April%202026_Final.pdf

Friends of the Earth say that the planning application "highlights a gaping loophole in the current fracking moratorium which allows some types of fracking to go ahead, including low-volume fracking"

Campaigner, Tony Bosworth said:

“Proppant squeeze is fracking by another name. North Yorkshire Council cannot ignore its impact on local communities or the scale of opposition. This application must be rejected.
 
“Earlier this month, one of the UK’s leading geologists warned that the earthquake risks from both high-volume fracking and low-volume techniques like proppant squeeze are equally significant and unpredictable.
 
“The government has rightly committed to banning fracking for good. It blights our countryside, won’t lower UK energy bills, and is deeply unpopular. 
 
“With significant parts of England already covered by oil and gas licences, ministers must reassure communities by banning all forms of hydraulic fracturing for fossil fuels.”

The government has promised to ‘ban fracking for good’ and is expected to set out details in its Energy Independence Bill, which may be included in the Kings Speech next month. Friends of the Earth says the proposed ban must include ‘proppant squeeze’ and other fracking techniques not covered by the current moratorium, which is restricted to only so-called high-volume fracking.

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